. >> sarah palin will be joining us. as you know, and you have been championing -- champ in in this like nobody's business. he wants to make it front and center in the debate tonight. indications are that it will be. that should suit him just well. now we will see whether the answers. and alan simpson, as you know, tends to be a bipartisan basilar if they don't answer those questions. gerri: it's going to be fun. i'll be watching. good luck. drink a lot of coffee. >> exactly. gerri: thank you. well, as president obama and mitt romney square off tonight they will do so under a strict set of rules. these guidelines have been established by the commission on presidential debates. that is a real thing. here is the format. six, 15-minute segments. the first three and the economy followed by health care and the role of government. the moderator from pbs will ask president obama the first question and then candidates will alternate for all 90 minutes. for each question the candidates will have two minutes to respond and are not